In February 2022, a large consignment of imported petrol had to be withdrawn from the market, after it was found to have excessive levels of methanol, which was causing engine damage in vehicles. This is the latest scandal to raise serious concerns over the regulation of fuel standards in Nigeria. In 2020, SDN’s research sampled official petrol imports and found average sulphur levels more than seven times the legal limit, average diesel samples more than 43 times the limit, and a few with excessive levels of other toxins. The weakness in regulating fuel quality poses a serious health risk to those living in Nigeria. International commodity traders and Nigerian marketers are exploiting the lack of regulation to import these low quality fuels, and improved standards and regulatory enforcement are urgently needed.
What is happening?
After recent complaints about petrol supplies damaging vehicles, a large consignment – roughly three days worth of national consumption – was found to have excessive levels of methanol. When the fuel was recalled, it triggered a national fuel shortage.
This incident is the latest to reveal structural and regulatory issues in the Nigerian fuel import system. The short-term impacts include shortages and equipment damage, and the severe long-term impacts include air pollution and public health risks.
Why are dirty fuels being imported?
Without official standards for methanol, authorities do no tests, so fuels with high levels go undetected. Methanol is an additive that can be blended to improve cheap, low-quality petrol. However, this consignment had excessively high levels, which damages engines.
Nigeria is dependent on fossil fuel imports. Despite being one of the top ten producers of crude oil worldwide, the national refining capacity is poor. Meanwhile, consumption is high and rising – estimated at 65 million litres per day in 2021 – because electricity and transport options are predominantly fuel powered.
The state-owned Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited is the sole importer of petrol in the country, but does sub-contract petroleum marketers in crude-for-fuel contracts, which is how the high-methanol fuels were supplied. These deals are notoriously opaque, and have been at the centre of several corruption allegations.
What does SDN’s research show?
Our research highlights similar issues within the fuel system. We showed that fuels have high sulphur levels – the primary component of particulate matter and soot, which have severe health impacts, and is a growing problem across the Niger Delta. Lab analysis of samples in 2020 found average sulphur levels over seven times the Nigerian limit for petrol, and 43 times for diesel. This upheld findings in earlier research, which found high levels of sulphur in diesel across several West African countries.
Unlike methanol, standards for sulphur content were adopted in 2017, and ECOWAS adopted regional standards in 2020. This shows that even though standards are in place, regulators are not holding marketers accountable.
After our research was published, all government agencies associated with regulation of fuels traded blame, and denied responsibility. This highlighted that not only are regulatory standards unclear, but the responsibilities for enforcement are too. Similar responses from the government followed the recent case, and when grilled by a government committee, the marketers defended themselves by referencing the lack of standards.
Why is this important?
It appears to be easy for sub-standard fuel imports to enter Nigeria, so it is probable that large volumes of fuel consumed are of poor quality, causing significant damage to public health, engines, and the environment. This contributes to air quality levels that cut life expectancy by 4.7 years in the Niger Delta, the worst hit area across the African continent.
Moreover, Nigeria is being exploited by those importing its high-quality, low-sulphur, crude oil, and exporting low-quality, high-sulphur and -methanol fuels in return. These fuels would not be accepted in other countries, but are being dumped wholesale across West Africa.
This news also comes at a crucial time, amidst wider transformation in the Nigerian oil and gas sector following passage of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA). New regulatory agencies are being established, which will need to monitor more sources of petrol imports. If the lessons from the deregulation of diesel and kerosene are anything to go by, the quality of petrol could significantly deteriorate (our research detected sulphur levels 41x and 5x what standards allow in each fuel respectively).
What needs to be done?
Fuel standards should be more comprehensive. ECOWAS adopted harmonised sulphur standards for fuel in 2020, and member states, including Nigeria, were supposed to adopt national legislation in 2021. This has not been done yet, so there is an opportunity to include standards for other potentially dangerous additives, such as methanol and manganese, in legislation, to support future enforcement.
The enforcement agencies will also need more capacity to monitor and enforce standards. As the new Nigeria Downstream and Midstream Petroleum Regulatory Agency (NDMPRA) is being established, this should be a crucial part of their mandate, strategy, and budget.
But overall, Nigeria’s dependence on fossil fuels is highly unsustainable. The government should start investing in a transition to alternative energy sources, rather than double-down on increasing crude oil production and developing its petroleum refineries.
¹The average for samples of official gasoline in Rivers, Bayelsa and Lagos States was 1,119ppm. At the time, the official Nigerian standard was 150ppm. The new ECOWAS standard is 50ppm, so this would be 22 times the new limit, which has not yet been enshrined in law in Nigeria. The Nigerian diesel standard at the time is the same as the new ECOWAS standard of 50ppm, so the average (2,170ppm) results remain more than 43 times the limit. The Nigerian kerosene standard was 150ppm, meaning the average (829ppm) was 5.5 times the limit. There is no ECOWAS standard for sulphur in kerosene. Source: SDN (2020) Dirty Fuel.
Published 30.03.22
